curtainsdown | and I know things now, many valuable things

[You remember dying. Maybe the memory is clear and bright and your body still aches from the cause. Maybe it was fast enough that you didn't feel it and don't remember what you went through. But no matter how you went out you're still trapped here.

When you open your eyes it might take you a minute to recognize your surroundings. It's your dressing room, that much is certain, but nothing is where you remember it. It's like everything has been picked up and moved to the other side of the room. The entire room has been perfectly mirrored from what it used to be and, upon leaving, it seems the rest of the opera house is just the same. If you remember one room being in the east wing, it's now in the west. If it was in the west, it's now in the east.

Welcome back to the Opera House, friends, you're not out of the woods yet.]

[ooc: Welcome to deadland, darlings! It's a perfectly mirrored version of the Opera House and each week, as new people die after new floors have been revealed, the stairwell doors will unlock and allow you to reach them. For example, week 3 victims will unlock floor 2 and so on and so forth. Also, all dead characters will wake up at their actual canon point.

Have fun because we have some fun things planned for you.]

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[At the touch she gasps and takes a clumsy step back, though it's not forceful enough to break contact between them. Her eyes shoot open and she sees...a normal man, the normal man she stabbed repeatedly with a straight razor, not the one who did the same to her.]

N-no, sir, I- I k-killed-- f-for- I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

It's alright. I forgive you.

[He would like to hug her, but she seems to be freaking out at the moment, so he's just gonna. Not do that.]

You were frightened, and this place has been trying to drive us all to murder since we came. How could I blame you for buckling beneath that weight?

[She stares at him in disbelief.]

You...forgive me...? But, I... Ah, I...! Wh- what-- how did- so many good people...?

[It doesn't seem she can find the words to say to this, so she just clenches her hands tighter and starts to cry as her knees buckle. When the weight of how bad you screwed up just. Comes crushing down on you, the worst familiar feeling.]

[woooooah okay no we're just going to catch her before she falls. It's easy for him to support her weight.]

Listen - I've remembered more things since I got here. I believe...I believe was dying at home, before all of this.

[It's a somewhat hushed admission; he hasn't had cause to say it aloud before. It's a strange thing to reflect on. It'd seemed clear that he wouldn't recover, so how did coming here apparently make him well again? Did he possibly die already?]

It was always borrowed time. If my death could have bought your freedom, then at least it would have done some good here.

[.....yeah someone didn't live long enough to hear all the trial rules]

[oh well time for her to lower valjean into the ground so she can let him down one more time]

Ah... [Slowly, D-ne shakes her head. She's stiff and wants to run, but she has no energy to do so.] No, it's... No, Valjean-san...

If one person...kills and fools the rest of the actors... then everyone else dies.

...ah.

Did you know that? [Though really, he suspects she must have.

That's a bit different, isn't it?]

I thought...it was the only way to... But, no, that m-matters not. I'm an a-awful monster, Valjean-san. [She can't look at him.]

Of course...I knew.

No - no, of course it matters. What were you going to say?

[His voice is still gentle. Because it's different, yes - but it doesn't make any difference. It's still not for him to condemn her.]

[She doesn't understand. Why isn't he casting her away? Telling him won't change anything, so she should just...]

...to save...my friends- the girl I love from a- a curse that was going to kill us all.

I thought it might be something like that. D-ne, you were hurt and afraid, and you did a terrible thing. That doesn't make you a monster. It makes you human.

How...? H-how can you be so...so kind?

[He frowns, patting her shoulder.] I'm no better than anyone else, either. I've been shown mercy myself in the past. How could I deny you the same? No one will ever change for the better if they're not given a chance.

Come, sit down. You'll feel better when you'v eaten.

[He might...have to help her to that chair, D-ne doesn't seem to be in the state to walk by herself. But, she won't fight him.]

What...are you making, sir?

[He will do so!]

Croissants. There's some fruit as well, if you like.

[She glances at an apple...]

Thank you, ah... wh- where do you...suppose this is...?

I couldn't say. There's no one else here...

[It's not anything he could have predicted.]

I was sure... I would end up in Hell...

[So she's very confused.]

But instead we're in limbo?

That may be it.

[No comment on the hell thing]

I think there must be something left for us to do here.

And when we accomplish that, our souls will be put to rest?

[she sounds like she doesn't really believe that but]

...Maybe we're to be here until the show concludes. If management desires our...continued participation.

They cannot possibly have such power over our souls. Time travel, travel between worlds, those are other matters entirely.

[god is this theology time b/c honestly]

You think our souls are that much different...?

[oh my god are we really]

If they've gained ownership over our bodies, then it only makes sense that they'd have those too, wouldn't it?

[I DIDN'T EVEN MAKE IT OUT OF CONFIRMATION CLASSES that's probably not even what they were called]

Not at all. Our bodies may be imprisoned, but no one can truly confine our souls.

[I NEVER EVEN TOOK CONFIRMATION AT ALL MY DUDE]

Then...what of Hell? You're a religious man. And, ah, with Jezebel-san here... You believe in that, don't you?

and I know things now, many valuable things

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